I Read the Time Traveler's Memories
I slowly rolled the mouse wheel and carefully scanned the text displayed on the screen once more. I had been pondering how to survive the impending apocalypse I now knew was coming.
“Let’s see… here we go.”
I had read the memories of the regressor Yeon Jisu, and with them I already knew every horrific event humanity would face and every major turning point in the future. These pieces of information in my hands were a true cheat code capable of altering the destiny of the entire world, something no one could ever change.
“Haa…”
I let out a long, heavy sigh and, before anything else, once again reviewed the records I had written down about the fact that the world was doomed.
According to Yeon Jisu’s memories, if she had done nothing this eighth cycle, humanity would have fallen into the path of destruction within ten years. People would lose their minds to mysterious beings they didn’t even understand, and eventually every living creature on Earth would be devoured by them.
But there was one interesting detail. In the seventh cycle, Yeon Jisu had thrown away everything she had to save the world, fighting across the entire globe. The bloody effort had delayed the end of the world by a full twenty-five years. Even if she hadn’t prevented the apocalypse, her actions had clearly produced a meaningful result in postponing it.
So what method had she chosen to delay the end?
“Gate closure. It’s crude, but it’s a foolproof way.”
I tapped the words “gate closure” on the screen with my finger and clicked my tongue.
At this point in time, the gates spewing monsters everywhere were seen as an apocalyptic threat to human survival, so people risked their lives to hunt them.
But in the future, humanity eventually adapted and overcame them. They succeeded in controlling the gates and even turned them into enormous sources of wealth. The mana stones generated inside the gates, mysterious minerals and plants that didn’t exist in the real world, and even the byproducts of monsters were all treated as precious resources of immense value.
Just as humanity once waged wars for oil, the future would fight tooth and nail to seize the gates. Eventually the gates became the golden goose that large guilds, giant corporations with capital, and even states monopolized and managed.
But someone had gone crazy and decided to slit that goose’s belly open.
“From the future’s perspective, that Yeon Jisu girl was a complete terrorist.”
I chuckled softly at the memory of her lonely, misguided struggle to save humanity by turning the entire world into enemies.
Because of humanity’s greed, the number of gates gradually increased, and as a result the mana concentration in the atmosphere grew denser and denser over time. With plenty of mana, more and more awakened beings appeared, and humanity seemed to be living in a golden age on the surface.
The real problem lay in the concentration of mana itself.
When a certain level of gate persisted and the mana in the air surpassed the critical saturation point, every living creature on Earth, including humanity, would gradually begin to be eroded by something unknown.
At first ordinary people with weak mana or weak mental fortitude would lose themselves to that unknown will, and in the end even the strongest awakened beings would be consumed by it in a horrifying conclusion.
That was the true scenario of apocalypse awaiting this world.
Yeon Jisu had secretly infiltrated the core gates managed by the major guilds and states, closed them permanently, and traveled the world to lower the mana concentration in the atmosphere and prevent erosion.
Naturally, guilds, corporations, and states that possessed astronomical interests would never allow such actions from someone like her. To them, Yeon Jisu was not a hero saving the world but a mad terrorist.
Eventually she became known as the Gate Destroyer and received a worldwide Class-A wanted notice. Ironically, the woman who had tried to save humanity had to chase her in solitude.
“No wonder. She had almost no compromise in her eyes. I guess it was because she had really let loose against the whole world.”
I propped my chin on my hand and stared at the monitor, lost in deep thought. I wanted to applaud her terrible self-sacrifice, but I had no intention of rolling through a minefield by throwing away my life like she had to save the world.
But the problem was that simply hiding quietly here didn’t mean the coming apocalypse would simply pass me by.
“In the end, to survive, I have to somehow stop the apocalypse from coming.”
I was a human living on this Earth as well. If I stayed still, I would surely be devoured by that unknown something. I had to stop that horrifying future at all costs.
And to do that, I had decided I needed to become stronger than I am now. I had barely survived until now with only my ability to read emotions, but in the future that kind of cheap trick wouldn’t be enough.
Fortunately, the memories of the regressor Yeon Jisu were copied right in front of me, filled with endless useful information from the future.
“Yeah, that’s what I have to focus on.”
I clicked the mouse to open another notepad file. Inside were the massive amounts of knowledge about the future mana system I had extracted from Yeon Jisu’s memories.
Humanity in the current era didn’t systematically understand the mysterious power used by awakened beings. They simply displayed basic innate abilities, like “Oh, this guy shoots fire” or “Oh, this guy’s body is hardening,” and stopped there.
But according to the future knowledge, humanity succeeded in analyzing that power and classifying it into a clear system. Physical enhancement, mana emission, summoning, mana manipulation—each was categorized by the fundamental principle and the nature of mana involved.
And thanks to that knowledge, I finally understood exactly where my own ability fit.
“My ability isn’t limited to just reading emotions or memories. My core was mana manipulation.”
There was even more. The most coveted piece of core information from Yeon Jisu’s memories was separate: a systematic training method to exceed an awakened being’s limits by increasing internal mana volume, and a way to create and manifest additional abilities beyond one’s innate power.
“In the future, they call this all together the mana cultivation method.”
I clicked my tongue and examined the two branches of the cultivation method displayed on the screen.
Several years after the gates opened, mana manipulation became highly advanced and two major styles were established. One was the Chinese style, which stacked mana solidly inside the body like piercing blood vessels and accumulating qi. The other was the European style, which drew geometric circles around the heart to specialize in external mana emission.
Having crossed the world after countless trials and tribulations, the regressor Yeon Jisu naturally had complete knowledge of both styles in her head, and I had copied them intact.
“Obviously, what I need is this one.”
Without the slightest hesitation, I decided to master the Chinese style.
The reason was simple and clear. As I had realized earlier, my major aptitude was mana manipulation. Compared to the European style specialized in external energy emission, the Chinese style allowed control of the subtle flows of mana accumulated inside the body, which suited me perfectly. In addition, it improved physical ability, which would better compensate for my weakness of only ordinary physical defense, and was far more efficient.
“The bald future me probably gained the reaction speed and physical power to clash with physical-enhancement awakened beings through this method.”
I got up from my seat and climbed onto the bed. Then I sat in the seiza position in the center of the soft mattress like the protagonists in old martial arts novels. Back straight, hands lightly resting on my knees, I closed my eyes.
“Huu…”
I took slow, deep breaths and focused my mind. In the quiet apartment, only my breathing echoed steadily.
I recalled the qi-guiding method of the Chinese mana cultivation method I had seen in Yeon Jisu’s memories. The sensation of slowly drawing in the fine mana particles floating in the air through my nose and skin. Then pulling those absorbed energies down through the blood vessels.
The target point was about three inches below the navel—the exact spot called the dantian in the martial arts novels.
At first, random thoughts and scattered breathing caused the mana to scatter repeatedly. Handling invisible energy according to my will was far more difficult than I thought. But I leveraged the full concentration I had honed every moment to survive on the front lines.
“Pull… gather… trap.”
I sharpened the thread of consciousness and focused all my nerves below the navel. At some point, I felt the sensation of air mana piercing the skin and slowly gathering in my chest and then my abdomen.
“Good, it’s coming.”
I cheered internally and began gently rotating the intangible qi gathered in the dantian, coaxing and soothing it like a small spinning top. The mana slowly formed a circle according to my will and condensed.
At first the qi had been faint like mist, but as I repeated my breathing and kept injecting ambient mana, it gradually grew denser and turned into heavy, intense heat. A warm, powerful warmth began from my lower belly and spread gently through my spine and the entire body. Even the pain in my bruised bones from yesterday’s fight with Yeon Jisu melted away like snow in the circulation of this condensed mana.
I had no idea how much time had passed as I sank deep into that strange and mysterious sensation.
And about an hour later.
WHOOSH!
With a sensation of intense light bursting behind my closed eyelids, a fullness as if something had firmly settled inside my abdomen struck my entire body.
“Haa…!”
I exhaled sharply and snapped my eyes open.
My whole body was soaked in sweat, but there was no fatigue at all. Instead, a explosive vitality I had never felt before surged through every vein. I brought my trembling hand to my lower belly.
At the dantian where my will reached, the heavy, solid mana swirled on its own like a living engine operating under my complete control. It wasn’t the shallow mana scattered in the air, but a massive engine installed inside my body.
The cultivation method had been a complete success. I had gulped down the essence created after countless trials and tribulations by future humanity and turned it into my own in just one hour.
“Hehe…”
I clenched my fist and opened it, and a power of mana beyond anything before filled every finger joint. Right now, even if Yeon Jisu’s attack came again, I felt a strong confidence that I could deflect it easily without rolling around uselessly like last time.
I jumped off the bed and brushed back my sweaty bangs.
The future knowledge of the regressor and my core ability to read others’ emotions and memories. When these two combined, extending my comfortable life and protecting my full head of hair in front of the coming apocalypse was no empty dream.
I stretched the corners of my mouth and raised my fist toward the sky.
“Khhahah! Yeah, I’m Yoon Siwoo. I’m the man who will become the number one in the world.”